men's basketball

Men's Basketball

Boston University defeats cold-shooting UMaine team

BOSTON — Darryl Partin connected for 14 points as Boston University overcame a cold-shooting University of Maine squad for a 67-54 America East men’s basketball victory Thursday night at Case Gym.

The Black Bears couldn’t connect early on, spotting the Terriers a first-half lead they would never relinquish. BU (14-13, 10-3 AE) then surged early in the second half and UMaine could get no closer than nine the rest of the way.

UMaine was again without sophomore center Alasdair Fraser, who missed his second straight game after spraining his ankle in overtime of last Saturday’s victory at Maryland Baltimore County.

The Bears’ other big guns jammed up as senior guard Gerald McLemore (9 points) and freshman guard Justin Edwards (4 points) went a combined 5-for-25 (20 percent) from the floor.

Junior forward Mike Allison picked up some of the slack with a 15-point, 10-rebound performance that included 7-for-10 foul shooting. Junior guard Jon McAllian of Bangor turned in his best collegiate game, hitting four of five 3-pointers on his way to a career-best 12 points.

Andrew Rogers added eight points and four assists for the Bears, who shot 33 percent (19-for-58) from the field.

BU rattled off an 11-0 run early in the second half while building a 19-point advantage.

UMaine trailed 33-25 after a layup by Allison, but the hosts put together the decisive surge. Robinson got it started with a 3-pointer from the corner, then Morris made a layup after a miss by the Bears. Partin drained a 3, then Robinson cashed in a UMaine turnover with a conventional three-point play to make it 44-25 with 15:19 left.

The Bears had survived a cold-shooting first half to trail only 30-21 at intermission.

UMaine shot only 28 percent (8-for-29) from the floor, which included a 2-for-15 start. The Bears also struggled from long distance, but McAllian made two 3-pointers late in the half to provide a spark.

The Terriers also started slowly, but wound up extending their advantage to 26-12 on a Morris layup with 4:06 remaining in the period. BU shot 39 percent and outrebounded UMaine 24-18.

The Bears finally heated up late in the half as Rogers and McAllian hit 3-pointers 44 seconds apart. McAllian made another in the final minute to help reduce the deficit.